Could someone please post a picture of the rear bumper of a car with the Rear-Mounted Bike Rack prep factory 3AR option please? Ideally I'd like to see how it looks on a Cashmere Silver Metallic car but any light color is fine. I'm looking for how it looks without the rack installed.

Bugger! Just been telling the wife that BMW do a bike rack for the coupe but there's no way I'm hacking 2 gaping holes in the damn bumper for the privilage of driving around with a maximum of 2 bikes on the back!!! The covers don't look great either and even if they were cc'd they'd still stand out like a sore thumb...

I guess roof bar bike racks are the way forward if you have the coupe and if you have the vert then I'd just start getting used to riding around your hood or getting a lift off a mate with a decent sized SUV

The pictures in the linked thread are good and illustrate well the consequences of putting this on.

A better option, coupe or vert, may be to put on a hitch - there is a DIY - and then just get a hitch type bike rack. The hitch install looks pretty involved but does not involve any large holes in the painted surface of the vehicle - some trimming of a belly pan in back is apparently required. Given what BMW charges for accessories, this should also be less expensive.

I'd assume that they would need to replace your rear bumper if you were looking to do this after you've purchased, so you'd probably be no worse off getting the tow bar attachment fitted as someone else suggested.

However, if you're getting the bike rack prep included as an option, then it saves you a sizable chunk of cash (£300 / $550ish in my case) when compared to the tow bar attachment option. The holes are covered by plugs which look similar to the parking sensors anyway, so they do not have an impact on the look of the car. Not sure if the ones in the link provided by Robert were done after the car was built, however the one I was shown was flush with the bumper, and colour coded with the rest of the car.

At $550, the BMW bike rack is clearly more expensive than a hitch and bike rack if you install the hitch yourself (which may be an unfair comparison is the $550 includes installation). Even with a reasonable estimate of installation you should save money with the hitch option.

The Curtis hitch is about $130. There is a wide range in bike racks influenced by how many bikes you want to transport (2-5 designs available) and whether it folds (folds costs more). If you go with Thule racks - I think it's a good brand but I'm no expert - they range from about $135 for a 2 bike non-folding to about $216 for a folding 4 bike rack (Thule doesn't have a 5 bike design but I saw one on Amazon). If you compare 2 bikes, non-folding (close to the BMW capability) it would be about $265. I would think you could get the hitch installed for less than $300 if you wanted to go that way. And you also have a hitch which could be useful for other things. And no holes in the bumper (although if they are body color that would help a lot).

BMW USA has no hitch or tow bar option for 1s. You can only get one by going aftermarket. And I've only seen the Curtis hitch that is referenced in the DIY. Typcially there are several other brands offered in the U. S.. Are your prices from the dealer? Even so they look very high. But when I put a hitch on my SUV, the dealer wanted something like 4 times what the aftermarket prices were - so maybe what you are seeing is not so different.

I'm off moutain biking in the Peak District this weekend, so I'll let you know how the rack performs when I get back.

First impression is very positive - you cannot really tell from the photo's but the rack is a solid piece of kit with some cool design features to make it easier getting on and off. The connection with the car is extremely solid, so hopefully I'll be able to enjoy driving up the single lane country roads in the Peaks :-)

Nice pictures. I agree with you that the covers dress things up to be similar to the tow hook penetrations in the bumper or presumably the parking sensors (I don't remember their appearance but on other cares it is something like this). Thanks for posting.

In the U. S., something like this bike rack that extends less than 2 feet beyond the bumper would not need additional lights or a license plate. It seems like you have both. Is that normal for England?

Yeah, we have fairly strict rules on license plates being visible on the front and back of the car here in the UK. We also need to get an additional license plate if there is any obstruction covering the plate, to ensure that we can receive our speeding tickets more efficiently ;-)

nice pics showing that the factory install is definitely the preferred route to go. (I had posted the original pictures of the dealer-installed option on my 135 vert).

One recommendation for you and anyone else with the rear-mount rack, please keep the vertical bar in the upright and locked position when NOT carrying a bike. If the bar is folded down, in the unlocked position, the quick-release levers are likely to unscrew themselves due to road vibrations and fall out. I had one fall out and it was nearly 3 weeks to get a replacement since BMW doesn't actually make the rack and the small parts like screws are not part numbered items.

on the side note, my local dealer said that if i'm going to get the rear-mounted bike rack for the 135i, i have to get the "bike rack preparation" as well and this costs $502. for the 128i, it's only $125 for that. true?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feyd

I'd say factory... they look too clean (painted as well) to be done at a local dealer.

I see no obvious reason for a 128i to be different from a 135i for a bike rack installation. The 135i has a weight on the bumper for weight distribution reasons but I don't see why what would affect things. It seems like it would be pretty involved - I would look at the hitch installation DIY for an idea of what is involved since both involve bolting things to the car in the same area.